We have a tradition at home we call: Waffle Saturdays. It's just as delicious as it sounds, too.
INGREDIENTS
Whole wheat flour
Yeast
Raw sugar
Hot water
Hempseed
Ground flax
Almond/soy/flax/coconut mylk
Optional: 1 small ripe smashed banana
DIRECTIONS
Preheat your waffle iron.
Now gather your ingredients. You'll also need a tiny bowl to proof your yeast and a large glass measuring cup that is larger than 2 cups.
Put a t of raw sugar + yeast + approximately 1/8 c hot water into the small bowl. Let sit 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, measure whole wheat flour up to the 1 cup line in your measuring cup.
Then add to your flour (approximately) 1 T flax, 1 T hempseed to flour mix. Next, pour yeast/water/sugar mixture on top of that. Add smashed banana, if using. Now you'll want to add mylk so your batter goes up to the 2 cup line. Stir well! It should be slightly runny, too.
Pour into your waffle iron. Cook as directed.
Serve with tempeh bacon, REAL maple syrup and organic cherries. Trust me on this. Organic fruit, especially cherries, are worth every penny.
Enjoy!
...just a little sneak peak... 
The hands-on time for this dessert is under fifteen minutes. The result is unabashedly sublime. To gild the lily, a scoop of vanilla bean coconut ice cream served in a bowl with a slab of the galette, and all will be right with the world. I've noticed the supermarket slowly receiving "not-quite-seasonal-for-Missouri" produce. Last week there were the bing cherries and Georgia peaches. The cherries really tempted me. I cannot resist them once the full line of cherries arrive. But even I have standards. It's far too early for a decent cherry. But the peaches. . . they were in perfect condition. They had that peachy aroma. Plus they were displayed in individually slotted spaces in cardboard boxes. As if the shipping box was specifically designed just for the semi-long trip they had getting to Missouri from Georgia. I came home with two pounds. My impulse control was low, what can I say. 
Ran into a small yarn shop in search of new needles and saw: All Yarn 50% Off! Need I say more? 
So back home with peaches, I began searching my mind for what might become of the peaches. We'd been enjoying fruited desserts for a week now. I don't know why, but I've been craving baked, buttery, fruit-filled items lately. I didn't have time to make a pie per se. Plus that would involve some "precision"--I was in no mood for precision. But my baking soul demanded some sort of pastry enclosed dessert. With only two hours before dinner, I settled on a galette. The word free-form sold me. 
Here's how: The basic premise of the galette is that you take a pre-made pastry crust that has been mixed and chilled for at least an hour. While the dough chills you can mix together whatever you'd like: berries, cherries, peaches, apples, pears. Cut about two peeled apples into chunks, then add one peach to that--unpeeled (because it is truly not worth the trouble to peel a peach in my opinion), add 2/3 cup sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, juice of 1 lemon and a pinch of salt--after mixing all this--you just pile into the shell! What could be easier? The full recipe for the pastry I used was courtesy of Flo Braker from my cookbook, Baking with Julia. For the vegan version, use vegan sour cream (which worked beautifully). This was an incredibly simple-to-make pastry. And the results are worth the five minutes it takes to churn out the crust. Trust me. 
Maybe this is why my mitered crosses blanket is taking so long to finish. Crocheting a new apron for myself. 
Saw this pattern in a book from JoAnn's and couldn't resist. Plus the colors make me happy. I need happy right now. Things have been a little rough lately. 
This morning a bird flew into the house, landed on my slipper and left. Nothing good can come of this. I'd JUST started my day--it was the crack of dawn for crying out loud. And yet. This bird. There was a loud screeching and what seemed to be a little ruckus going on between this irate cardinal and two smaller sparrows (were they? I have no idea). Since February--this cardinal has found several windows around our home offensive--slamming himself into his reflection with such regularity that I have actually begun to ignore him or simply get through the day oblivious to his C-R-A-Z-Y. 
Yummy. Super moist.
This is a Mississippi Kite. Bird of prey. I took this photo yesterday afternoon--during our first day of rain in nearly a month! It was a welcome change from all this crazy sunshine we'd endured. (It's in my Midwestern blood to crave, even miss dark, rain-soaked, stormy days like the one we enjoyed here yesterday.) You probably can't tell in this photo (sorry!)--this bird sports a black mask around its eyes. Thus, my personal moniker for them is: "Batman Birds". This is their second year with us. 
For those unaware, the art of knitting is under scrutiny. Big story. Big news. First a disclaimer. I am not an Olympic athlete. Nor do I pretend to be one when I knit. However, if you would like to spend a few minutes laughing yourself silly, might I direct you to the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard: Gawker covers this quite well. As does Mason-Dixon Knitting. At first when I read the Olympic Committee (yes, with capital letters, so you know this is for real) has taken umbrage with Ravelry and its many Ravelympic shenanigans (of the afghan, mitten, sock, hat, scarf, cardigan, and sweater sort)--I thought this was a very funny and clever joke. What better way to get a knitter's attention than to create a scandal! I love a good scandal, don't you? Sadly, this is real. The OC apparently finds our knitting "denigrates" the Olympics. For those knitters who have the the gall to knit while watching the Olympic games and partake in such groups via Ravelry . . . be aware, be very aware. You are now colluding. And as such, may find yourself in . . . well, in "violation." Please someone tell me this is not really happening. Please. I want to know when the jig is up. In the off chance this whole thing is REAL, (and my fear is that the letter and all its lawyer speak are), I will humbly submit to finally learning to knit real socks. Not the kind that are knit with two different colors of yarn on one needle so I can tell the difference, but honest-to-goodness, wearable socks. For humans. For maybe even Stephen Colbert. But I think knitting some for my husband would have to come first (right after I finish the man-sweater), then socks for Colbert. **UPDATE: The Olympic Committee has since issued an apology. Twice. If THAT doesn't tell you something about the power of knitting folk, well, I don't know what does. I still think I'd like to knit a pair of wearable socks. 
On a completely unrelated venture. We have this little groundhog residing in the back yard. He's the most adorable little thing I have ever seen. I spotted him out back before he had spotted me (they are quite skittish) and quickly but ever-so-quietly ran back inside for my camera. I call him a badger. They can be destructive little critters. But cute beyond words just the same. And as you can see, he is on the "outside" of the veggie patch. 
Here is the latest veggie patch update. It's bone dry out there. I don't water everyday. I try to stick to the rule--an inch of water per week. I want to encourage deep roots on the plants vs. shallow. But the parched ground and lack of water here is stressing everything. I feel sorry for the trees. We had such a beautiful spring. And now. . . this. I have tomatoes on nearly all my tomato plants. No blight or foliage diseases have appeared. . . yet. I attribute this miracle to the fact that the rain we so desperately need has kept nasty airborne mold spores from attacking my plants. While I am very concerned over the lack of rain we've had here (especially given that most annoying of holidays is approaching)--I'm grateful to have such healthy and disease-free plants at this stage of the game. There be rabbits. . . big time. So it looks like, "No Beans For Me". I refuse to stress out over this. They've gotta eat--if I were a rabbit, I'd eat my garden, too.
Veggie patch number two. Corn is up. Kale is up. (I've been juicing in the afternoons: two kale leaves, three carrots, an apple, some dates, celery and grapes--it's a delicious pick-me-up.) Other parts of the patch are "dormant" for now. I ripped up my pea vines last weekend and used my fresh peas in a curry. They were so tasty. I plan to plant a fall crop of peas--when the weather cools. A pain in the neck to shell--all one hundred or so of them, but totally worth it in the end. So while this little garden strip appears to be somewhat "bare" and pretty stark looking--every good gardener knows--you leave spaces open for the "next" crops. Just not sure what exactly that will be yet. This was a garden I had all tomatoes in last year. I rotated the tomatoes to the new beds and gave this one a tomato "break". It works wonders for the soil.
I have to share my pasta endeavor. This weekend I made homemade pasta and TRIED my hand at shaping tortellini. This is the result. Okay, so I won't be heading to Italy any time soon. But still. These were quite good. Here's what I did: I poured a cup of Bob's Red Mill Semolina flour on the kitchen counter, added 1/3 cup of water and a tablespoon of EVOO, and a pinch of salt, then dove in with my hands. No bowls. No food processor. So easy. After the dough came together into a nice little round ball (I sprinkled a bit of water over it as I kneaded the dough)--after all the stickiness subsided, I set the dough in an oiled bowl to rest for and hour, then got my pasta roller out and had a blast. The pasta was perfect. We LOVED it! I am getting quite good at homemade pasta if I don't say so myself.